Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; November 5, 2019)

Dinesh Vijan has always believed in backing content that he is convinced about without fearing failure. “Raabta (2017) and Agent Vinod (2012) taught me to look at cinema differently,” he says. Ahead of the release of his production, Bala, he spoke to BT about picking the right content, reuniting with three directors he had started his Bollywood journey with, and the unforgettable lessons he has learnt along the way. Excerpts:

After Luka Chuppi, Arjun Patiala and Made In China, Bala, which hits the theatres this week, will be your fourth release as a producer this year. How would you describe the year, which has been hectic, challenging and fast-paced?
This has been a year of lessons, an enhanced understanding of the work we do and stability. I’ve managed to line up my films for the next year — the ones that go on floors and ones that release. I can’t wait for 2020 because there is a lot of action ahead. I’m reuniting with Imtiaz Ali, Homi Adajania and Sriram Raghavan, with whom I had worked at the beginning of my journey as a filmmaker. I remember learning so much from Imtiaz when he was making Love Aaj Kal (2009). The year ahead is more packed than this one. With everything that I have learnt, particularly from my failures, I’m more than geared up for the next year.

What about your plans to direct? You wanted to start something this year...
In the next two years, I have over ten films slated to release and around five or six big films to roll out. I can’t take my attention away from that right now. As a filmmaker, my biggest learnings came from Agent Vinod (2012) and Raabta (2017), which taught me just how fast the audience is changing. I learnt the art of making films like Badlapur (2015) and Stree (2018) from these. Failures teach you more than success. Today, as a filmmaker, I go by my gut instinct. I have to know the emotional arc of a story and see if it works for an audience.

While this year has been one of mixed results for you, what are your expectations from Bala? Do you feel nervous before the release of a film?
No, I don’t. I am not nervous because I make the films that I truly believe in. Take Bala for instance, I truly love it for what it stands for. So far, with most of our films, you take something home after the viewing experience. This time, you might also leave a little bit of you behind in the cinemas. I am extremely proud of this film because it will establish an unreal sort of a connection with you as an audience.

A film on similar lines opened a week prior to Bala. Does that bother you?
I’ve not commented on this matter so far because when the dust settles, people are smart enough to see things for themselves. People are going to say all kinds of things. Yes, the lead characters in both films are bald, but I know that my film is different. In Bala, there’s nothing similar to the south Indian film (on which Ujda Chaman was based). My company has stood for positive and original content. We’ve stuck to our date for Bala, and we’re confident about our film. I’m known to thrive on my sense of originality.

When you announced your film about a year ago, what had drawn you to the subject at that time?
The film is not so much about balding. It’s actually about the fact that we all have something we don’t like about ourselves. It could be size, weight, height, hair or skin colour. The idea is to love yourself for who you are, because it’s foolish to expect other people to love this perfect, superficial version of you. Amar Kaushik (director) was the best person to make this subject, which will appeal to the simplest, yet the most complicated Indian. The reason I kept quiet all this while was because, I didn’t want to corrupt the experience that Bala, as a film, offers.

Talking of imperfections, are you conscious of any of own?
I don’t observe myself so much; I am not even on social media. I remember when I was in class four, I shot up (in height), and suddenly, I was the tallest in my class. I developed a hunch because I became conscious of my height. Of course, eventually, my height became my strength. I’ve realised that anything different is always frowned upon and that has to do with the way we are conditioned. With Bala, we want to initiate a change there. That is the aspect I related to the most. We all have one such story in our life that underlines our imperfections or what we see as our imperfections. Bala will make you love yourself.

As a producer, you’ve refrained from backing anything formulaic. At the outset, you were doing something different from the rest of the industry. Did people also frown at your choices of films and the direction you were heading in?
I don’t know about that because we were busy making films. We’ve always backed stories that we firmly believe in. We’ve forged some extremely fruitful equations with filmmakers like Imtiaz Ali, Sriram Raghavan and Homi Adajania. As a company that arrived out of nowhere, we have never feared failures. We never take our audience for granted and never hide things or mislead them. Yes, when you make five films, you will go right and wrong with some of them. But why make a film that you don’t believe in? I’ve always wanted the directors of my films to get their vision right; we can work around the rest. After making Agent Vinod, Sriram made Badlapur and then AndhaDhun; he’s come into his own and is now making Ekkees with us. Fortunately, I’ve always found like-minded people to work with, whose love for cinema is greater than everything else. The intent is always to make the best possible film with the material at hand.